Method and system for selecting content items to be presented to a viewer

ABSTRACT

A rules evaluation engine operable to select optimal content for presentation to the viewer at each presentation opportunity. The engine evaluates segmentation rules associated with each particular content item in parallel, and then selects the best content to be presented. Priorities determined during evaluation sort out which content items will be presented. Real time dynamic enrichment of the decision making context occurs by retrieving additional information required to evaluate the rules. Logging and administrative processes for managing the segmentation rules are also realized.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/852,406 filed on May 24, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,792,828 which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety and claims the benefitof priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/482,487, filedon Jun. 25, 2003, which is also incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. This application is related to and incorporates by referenceU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/438,972 filed Jan. 9, 2003entitled, “Method and System for Dynamically Implementing an EnterpriseResource Policy,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/755,173, filedJan. 9, 2004 entitled, “System and Method For Dynamically Implementingan Enterprise Resource Policy.”

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system operable to select optimal content tobe presented to a viewer, based upon both the characteristics of theviewer and the viewing situation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Over the last decade, technology has drastically improved theeffectiveness of technology-based marketing. CRM systems have broughtbusinesses back to their ancestral roots by providing organizations witha collective memory of every customer and their interactions.Previously, this was cost-prohibitive.

However, providing the optimal message to a customer is still a verycumbersome and time-consuming process. As a result, corporations havenot fully benefited from the promise of real-time customized andpersonalized marketing. Many customized content and personalizationinitiatives remain undeveloped because of their prohibitive human andfinancial costs of implementation.

With the traditional targeted marketing paradigm, the seller initiatesan interaction with the customer by analyzing historical data to segmentcustomers offline and then “pushes” a message out to the customer. Theseller then hopes for a response. However, other more proactive methodsare desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method to select, from apredefined palette of content items, those items which are best suitedfor an individual. This selection is based both on the attributes of theviewer and the context in which the contents is viewed. (i.e., at thatprecise moment in time). The content may involve advertisements,articles, or multimedia, such as animated images, movies, or audioclips.

More specifically, the present invention provides a centralized systemthat defines and manages business rules to identify what content is mostrelevant to the individual viewer's context. Then upon receipt of thecontent selection request, a centralized system evaluates the viewer'scharacteristics, the situational characteristics (context), and theviewer's personal history against the coded rules in order to select anoptimal content set for display. Then the selected content is returnedto a local system that serves the selected content to the viewer.Essentially, a number of diverse content items can be managed by thesystem, wherein each content item may have one or more coded rules whichdefine the viewer and content in which content would be presented to theviewer.

In effect, each item of content has a rule which describes a “profile”of what an ideal viewer or presentation opportunity. When the contentselection request is made, the coded rules associated with each relevantitem are evaluated to determine if an appropriate viewing opportunityexists. If the rule is satisfied, the system then adds the content item,within a prioritized queue, to an aggregated body of content items forthis presentation opportunity. The items are then sorted, by descendingpriority, with the most significant items being returned forpresentation. The prioritized list is returned based on the results ofevaluating the individual content items against various business rules.This produces a prioritized list of items most suitable for presentationto the viewer in the viewer's current viewing context.

Several advantages are provided. First, the ability to perform theevaluation process in real time, at the moment of the request is asignificant advantage over existing systems. This allows the contentselected to be sensitive to the current presentation opportunity ratherthan the data warehouse intensive traditional model which selectscontent days, and even weeks, beforehand. The present invention may alsocouple to enterprise data sources, customer care systems, and externaldata sources such as credit scoring bureaus, etc. to provide a very richpalette of information on which to base the content selection rules.

A detailed log of each request made, along with any/all content itemsselected for presentation, provides for auditability and effectivenessmetrics, as well as inputs for a “feedback loop” in which futurepresentation opportunities can be made based on prior decisions. Forexample, a rule could be constructed such that an individual item ofcontent would be highly prioritized under default conditions, but wouldbe deprioritized in favor of other content items after the original itemhad been presented to a viewer. One implementation may reduce an item'spriority after the item has been viewed three times in a 24-hour period.

An advantage of the present invention is that the rules defining theoptimal presentation opportunity do not need to be maintained inexecutable code by the administrator or user. The rules are captured ina representative notational format via a rule-builder GUI application,and then stored in an XML encoded structure within repository. As theyare not a part of the presentation engine (such as a web server), theycan be changed at will without the need to update or test the web serveror HTML source for the web pages the content is to be presented in. Theitems of content are managed in a hierarchical model, with each iteminheriting characteristics from its parent to determine who maymanipulate or change the rules which determine the rule's behaviorunless a specific rule is established for the individual item.Ultimately, this allows the rules to be administered in a distributedfashion throughout an enterprise, or even to clients (usuallyadvertisers) and business partners if the situation warrants such.

The invention can be invoked via a number of methods, including a J2EEcompliant API library, a procedural interface suitable for linking intolegacy applications written in C, COBOL, FORTRAN, etc., a Web Servicesinterface, a C+ interface, or even a custom-developed API for anindividual customer's needs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which likereference numerals indicate like features and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts one basic implementation model to provide optimal contentitem for a particular viewer of a website;

FIG. 2 provides a logical flow diagram relating to processing a contentselection request;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the Dynamically Expandable Rules Framework thatdescribes a process, implemented in code, by which invocation of aservice can be made both enabled for parallel scaling and tolerant offailure of components in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a logic flow diagram providing a Dynamic Enrichment Processthat depicts utilizing the rules engine to determine whether all of thedata elements required to evaluate the rule are available; and

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict a Parallel Fault Tolerant Architecture thatenables the invention to dynamically scale effectively across multipleservers and/or platforms while continuously servicing requests from theusers/viewers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in theFIGUREs, like numerals being used to refer to like and correspondingparts of the various drawings.

One potential architecture for the use with the invention is depicted inFIG. 1. Here, user or viewer 10 requests a page of content from webserver 14. Viewer 10 may have previously established his identity byauthenticating in some fashion with web server 14. Alternatively, viewer10 may be treated as having a default or anonymous identity.

Web server 14 loads page 13 from web page repository 12. Then web server14 executes java servlets or other like instructions that are containedwithin page 13. The servlets invoke services application programminginterface (API) which places a remote procedure call (RPC) into policymanager 16. This RPC requests content specifically chosen for viewer 10.Request 11 contains both the identity of viewer 10 and information thatdefines the set of rules and content items to be selected from acampaign or set of related content items.

Policy manager 16 uses a name associated with the campaign or set ofrelated content item to retrieve a set of rules 17 from rules repository18. Policy manager 16 then examines rules 17 to determine whatadditional information or data elements are required to evaluate rules17.

Policy manager 16 invokes any/all connectors required, including but notlimited to LDAP connector 24, SQL DB connector 26 and custom connector28 to retrieve the information or data elements required to evaluaterules 17. These data elements may be within directory database 30, HRsystem database 32 and other data sources 34. These data sources returnthe data elements needed to policy manager 16.

Policy manager 16 enriches the decision context with the informationretrieved. Policy manager 16 then evaluates the rules and creates anaggregated list of the content items associated with any/all rules whosecriteria are met. Policy manager 16 then sorts the aggregated list inorder of descending priority. The top “n” items of content (“n” being anumber of items parameter passed on the ESAPI request), are selected andreturned to web server 14 as the resultant of the ESAPI request. The webserver then inserts those return content items into page 13, which maytake the form of an HTML document. The customized page is then presentedto viewer 10 via a web browser or other like application.

Event log 36 may track every transaction created and stored withinrepository 38. The information within event log 36 can provide the basisof metrics determining system usage and effectiveness as well asproviding the inputs and capability on which to modify rules 17. Forexample, upon such information may include how many times a particularitem has been presented to a specific viewer in a defined time interval.

FIG. 2 provides a process flow diagram that depicts the logical flow ofweb content request. The processing of a request to select content itemsfor a viewer. In step 50, viewer 10 establishes their identity byauthentication through a means such as external authentication mechanism51. Next, a request is sent to web server 55 for a document in step 52.

In step 53, the document source is retrieved from the source repository,whereupon the web server executes instructions embedded within thedocument. Those instructions then invoke a services API in step 57 torequest content from server 59. Optimal content is returned to webserver 59 in step 56. Instructions within the document are then replacedwith content. Then in step 60, web server 55 delivers the customizedpage to the user's browser for display.

FIG. 3 depicts dynamically extensible rules management and evaluationframework 70. Rules evaluation engine is based upon the concept of usinga process by which a policy is expressed as a rule, encoded in amachine-independent rules modeling language. The rule can be dynamicallyloaded from the repository 72 and evaluated upon demand within multipleexecution contexts simultaneously. This provides for parallel scalingand fault tolerant capabilities. As the rules are loaded dynamically atevaluation time, rules may be created and/or changed at will, and willtake effect upon the next evaluation request.

In FIG. 3, GUI 74 allows administrative users to access rules 17 storedwithin repository 72. GUI 74 also facilitates the ability ofadministrative users to create and modify coded rules based on businessrules. GUI 74 interacts with repository 72 through server 76. The codedrules corresponding to the business rules are stored within repository72. These rules 17 determine what content will be eligible to bepresented to a viewer as previously described in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Rules 17 are retrieved from repository 72 following receipt of a contentselection request that corresponds to query 78 that is received via webserver 14 via input from user 10 through web server 14. Rules 17 aredynamically loaded and interpretively evaluated within process 82wherein the results of this evaluation are returned to web server 14 orother requesting application in order to present the optimum content toa viewer.

The concept of dynamic enrichment of the data is available within thedecision context depicted in FIG. 4. The dynamic enrichment processinvolves receiving a request in step 80. In step 82, in response to therequest, a policy set is loaded from repository in step 82. The policyset is analyzed to determine the required data elements in step 84. Instep 86, metadata is consulted and data elements are grouped byconnector. For each connector a determination is made in step 88 fordata for each data element within the connector. This involvesdetermining whether or not each data element already has a value atdecision point 90. If it does, an evaluation is made for the next dataelement. If not, a determination is made a decision point 92 as towhether or not all required key values for this data element arepresent. If all the required key values for this data element arepresent the data element is added to the connector request in step 94,otherwise, a determination is made for the next data element. Indecision point 96, a determination is made as to whether or notadditional data elements are required for this data connector. Ifadditional elements are required the next data element is evaluatedreturning to step 96. Otherwise, at decision point 98, a determinationis made as to whether or not any more connectors remain to be processed.Additional connectors are processed as described above. Otherwise, theconnectors with unresolved elements are invoked at step 100 in order toretrieve identified additional data elements. At decision point 102, adetermination is made as to whether or not any new values wereretrieved. If there were, at decision point 104, a determination is madeas to whether any unfilled data elements remain in which case theprocess is repeated by returning to step 88 until no unfilled dataelements remain as indicated at point 106. Essentially, feature allowsthe rules engine to determine when all the data elements required toevaluate the policy are present. If the answer is no, then the rulesengine may, through connectors, map to and retrieve all requisite dataelements before evaluating the rule.

A diverse, fault tolerant architecture that enables effectively sealingacross multiple servers and/or platforms while continuously servicingcontent selection requests is depicted in FIGS. 5A and 5B. Thisarchitecture effectively operates even when a multiple server lossoccurs.

FIG. 5A depicts the process of realm startup. At step 120, the realmstartup process is initiated. In step 122, all of the configurationfiles are read and associated processes are initiated. These processesare all registered with the service registry in step 124 after which themonitor performs regular health checks at predetermined intervals instep 126. If a dead process is found, the monitor deletes the registryand restarts the process in step 128.

FIG. 5B depicts client side fault tolerant wrapper logic. Here, in step130 a client API wrapper is invoked. At decision point 132, adetermination as to whether or not local cache of handles is requiredfor service. If not required for service, the service handles areretrieved in step 134. Otherwise, a random handle is selected from anavailable list in step 136. Returning to retrieving service handles,decision point 138 evaluates whether or not handles were retrieved. Ifthey were not, a return failure is made to the user in step 140.Otherwise, we progress to step 136 where the random handles are selectedfrom the list. In step 142, a service call is initiated, after which atdecision point 144, a determination is made as to whether or not acommunication failure is indicated. If no communication failure isindicated, the resultant is returned to the user in step 146. Otherwise,the monitor is notified of failed service. In step 148, the dead handlesare removed from the registry and reinitiating begins in step 150, afterwhich the process returns to step 134.

The current implementation of this concept is built upon a Javainfrastructure, and utilizes a number of fairly obscure features of theJava language to facilitate the service. The two most prominent of theseare the concept of a dynamic class loader, and HTTP/XML RPC architectureused to manage the interaction between processes.

It is important to note that while one embodiment is implemented in theJava language, the concepts that distinguish the present invention arenotably not Java specific, and in no way should the claims be restrictedto the Java language or the platforms on which it runs. In a procedurallanguage such as C/C++, PL/1, etc. the same concepts could readily beimplemented through the use of dynamically shared libraries or throughdynamic overlay methods that are well defined and commonplace.

While the embodiments discussed above focus on serving content to a webserver, the present invention may also service other delivery mechanismssuch as a Voice Response Unit (VRU), a wireless device such as a pageror cell phone, etc.

Although the present invention is described in detail, it should beunderstood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can bemade hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas described by the appended claims.

1. A centralized system to select particular content items to bepresented to a viewer from a plurality of content items, comprising: acoded rule associated with each particular content item; a serveroperable to: receive a content selection request; execute a rulesengine, wherein the rules engine is operable to evaluate a plurality ofcoded rules in parallel, in order to determine particular content itemsthe viewer is eligible to receive in response to the content selectionrequest; support a graphical user interface (GUI) operable to facilitatebuilding and managing the coded rules; maintain an application programinterface (API) library operable to manage communications between arequesting service and the rules engine; interface with an informationretrieval facility operable to retrieve information required to evaluatethe coded rules; and maintain an integrated usage and audit log operableto provide metrics and a feedback process, wherein the integrated usageand audit log allow the coded rules to be dependent upon prior behaviorsof the viewer.
 2. The centralized system of claim 1, wherein the serveris further operable to log and track each content selection request. 3.The centralized system of claim 1, wherein the server is furtheroperable to: determine additional information required to evaluate thecoded rules; locate the additional information required to evaluate thecoded rules; extract the additional information required to evaluate thecoded rules; and retrieve the additional information required toevaluate the coded rules.
 4. The centralized system of claim 3, whereinthe server evaluates the content selection request in real time with theadditional information required to evaluate the coded rules.
 5. Thecentralized system of claim 1, wherein the coded rules associated withthe content selection request are operable to be updated and immediatelyactivated.
 6. The centralized system of claim 5, wherein ownership ofthe coded rule associated with the content selection request hasdistributed administrative ownership and control.
 7. The centralizedsystem of claim 1, wherein the server is further operable to generate analarm based upon the evaluation of the content selection request in realtime, wherein the alarm is sent to an appropriate location.
 8. Thecentralized system of claim 1, wherein a rule repository is operable tostore the coded rules.
 9. A method to select particular content items tobe presented to a viewer from a plurality of content items, comprising:receiving a content selection request for content items to be presentedto a viewer from a requesting system; identifying the viewer with anauthenticated identity or an anonymous identity associated with thecontent selection request; retrieving a coded rule associated with thecontent selection request corresponding to a set of related contentitems; determining data elements required to evaluate the contentselection request; retrieving the identified data elements required toevaluate the content selection request; evaluating, by a server, thecontent selection request in real time to determine a resultant set ofcontent items; prioritizing the resultant set of content items; andproviding at least one content item from the prioritized resultant setof content items to the requesting system.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein each content item is associated with a coded rule.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising determining a data sourcecomprising at least one of the identified data elements and requestingthe at least one of the identified data element from the data source.12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining a data sourcecomprising at least one of the identified data elements and requestingthe at least one of the identified data element from the data source isserver performed.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the data source isan external data source.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein theretrieving a coded rule associated with the content selection requestcorresponding to a set of related content items is server performed. 15.The method of claim 9, wherein the providing at least one content itemfrom the prioritized resultant set of content items to the requestingsystem is server performed.
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein thereceiving a content selection request for content items to be presentedto a viewer from a requesting system is server performed.
 17. The methodof claim 9, further comprising: logging each content selection request;tracking each content selection request; logging each data elementrequired to evaluate each content selection request; and tracking eachdata element required to evaluate each content selection request. 18.The method of claim 9, wherein prioritizing the identified set ofcontent items comprises ranking of the identified set of content itemsby at least one means selected from the group consisting of predefinedstatic priorities, correlation to statistical models, derived prioritiesset by external data interfaces, priorities modified by rules-basedexclusivity or random-distribution operations, and combinations thereof.19. The method of claim 9, wherein coded rules are created and deployedwith a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the GUI allows anadministrator to specify business rules that determine contentpresentation eligibility.
 20. The method of claim 9, further comprisingupdating coded rules based on an intelligent feedback process in whichthe results and effectiveness of individual and/or aggregatepresentations of selected content items are analyzed to refine the codedrules.
 21. The method of claim 9, further comprising: determiningadditional data elements required to evaluate content selection requestagainst coded rules; locating the additional data elements; extractingthe additional data elements; and retrieving the additional dataelements.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising evaluating thecontent selection request in real time with the additional dataelements.
 23. The method of claim 9, wherein coded rules associated witha campaign defined in the content selection request are capable of beingmodified and immediately implemented.
 24. The method of claim 23,wherein ownership of coded rules has distributed administrativeownership and control.